Researches Into the Nature and Affinity of Ancient and Hindu Mythology (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1831 Excerpt: ... RESEARCHES INTO THE NATURE AND AFFINITY OF ANCIENT AND HINDU MYTHOLOGY. CHAPTER I. ON THE ORIGIN OF IDOLATRY. Hume has remarked, that " it is a matter of fact incontestable, that about seventeen hundred years ago all mankind were polytheists. The doubtful or sceptical principles of a few philosophers, or the theism, and that not entirely pure, of one or two nations, form no objection worth regarding. Behold, then, the clear testimony of history: the farther we mount up into antiquity, the more do we find mankind plunged into polytheism; no marks, no symptoms of any more perfect religion. The most ancient records of the human race still present us with that system as the popular and established creed. The north, the south, the east, the west, give their unanimous testimony to the same fact. What can be opposed to so full an evidence?" But in opposition to this opinion it may be observed, that there are sufficient indications, both in tradition and history, to place it beyond a doubt, that all systems of religion were of a simpler and purer nature in their origin than in their subsequent progress; and Hume's Essays, vol. ii. p. 408. B that in all of them there are the evident traces of a primitive belief in the unity and omnipotence of one Supreme Being. It is equally incontestable, that in all religious reformations the avowed object has been to remove all extraneous additions and innovations, and to restore the ancient faith to its pristine purity. Had, also, polytheism been the primitive religion of mankind, it would seem most probable that it would, under all changes, have preserved some unquestionable indications of its origin, which would have obviated every difference of opinion on the subject. But, on the contrary, all systems which have been propo...